Homer – Livingroom Update

Before we created Homer, we had your typical RV furniture and looks. This model is very traditional and dark all the way through and of course, that’s just not who we are or how we live.

Just like all our other rooms, we started with the paint on the ceiling and walls. Not a bright white, but a white with a slight warmth. Removed all the trim and swapped it out with stained cedar. To give us a little more rusticity – is that a word? – we also added some faux shiplap to our walls. We made this by simply cutting strips of thin, Luan board, staining it to match our trim color, and installed with a small nail gun. Cedar boards make up the trim around the slides and windows for a final look.

One of the elements of this RV, and our previous ones, that I absolutely dislike, is the smoked glass they install in the cabinet doors. Why? For the life of me, I cannot figure out why anyone would want to see just a glimmer of stuff in their cabinets through some dark, nasty looking glass. Before we painted the cabinets to match our ceiling and walls, Dave removed the glass from the doors and swapped it out with thin pieces of Luan. A little glue inside the frame holds them securely and once painted the same color as the cabinets, you can’t tell it was ever anything other than wood.

With the cornices down over the windows, we still wanted to use the blackout and daylight shades that came with this unit. We paid for them, and their function is great, especially at night. I did try contacting the manufacturer to see if they had different mounting brackets for those that were installed directly onto the cornices, but unfortunately, they did not get back to me. As an alternative plan, I purchased the really, really, really inexpensive adjustable shades at Walmart in White. I unrolled them, adjusted them to fit my black out blinds and then re-rolled then using the blackout shade fabric. I hung them using the shade brackets that came with my new “black out” shades from Walmart and they have worked great in the past two years. I added some inexpensive shears I cut down to size and now my daylight shades, are actually my curtains. I love how the light gets diffused when shining in my windows without making everything dark.

The COUCH saga: I am not a fan of pleather. If you are wearing shorts, it sticks to the back of your legs. It has a tendency to peel and it’s not very soft. The cushions have to be velcro’d to the base to keep them from sliding off when you move and frankly, it’s just a little too modern for us. Remember – Rusticity! Dave liked his power recliner and didn’t really want to replace it, so we kept it and I found a couch in a box that would fit through the door and was a nice green velvet. Because it was on the shorter side, as in not tall enough, Dave built a wood platform and we simply set it on top of that. I was in heaven. For about 1 month. Then I had to start adding padding to my seats because I was bottoming out. It was very pretty though……

After full timing about 6 months, Dave’s dual power recliner started having issues. It would just randomly start vibrating in its massage mode. The lift part would work depending on how you were sitting in the seat and the lighting would just randomly turn on and off. We checked wiring all through that chair and realized it was just having issues. Since this was already the second one we had, our first was replaced under warranty, we decided it was time to just replace it all. It never occurred to me that recliners come apart, including the sofas, and can easily fit in our camper door. We found residential recliners that were fabric and durable and wala! We now have comfortable furniture that looks good and is comfortable. We’ve had no issues with it moving around as we travel and the weight is about the same as what we pulled out.

Storage and Organization: I am an organizer by nature. To make sure we had the most available space and could easily find the items we needed, I added the wire shelf stackers inside the cabinets and then filled them in with the same baskets and bins I used in the bedroom. We also removed the original, low wood shelves next to the sofa. Another of those, why would they do this, moments. The low shelves had boards in front of them and just empty space behind them that you couldn’t access. I pulled them out, installed wood shelves on top of regular shelf backets and now have the perfect height for my coffee cup. The bigger benefit is all the storage space I gained next to my sofa, on both sides. I used fabric baskets and fill them with all the pup paraphernalia we seem to accumulate.

Adding the pretty: Now that we’ve updated our background and functional basics, we can focus on the best part of this process. Adding the pretty and homey touches to really make it feel like us.

1 – Area Rug: I started with an area rug that added a little softness under the feet and brought in some muted colors. I like the idea of an area rug as I can replace it if this one gets too dirty and I am unable to clean it. I did discover that flatter is better when trying to put the slides over it, so keep that in mind when choosing your pile height.

2. – Coffee Table: The one that came with our unit was too light in color for me and again, going for rusticity. I started with a lift top model that could double as a desktop. It ended up being just a little too large for our space which meant that the pups couldn’t get around it to jump up on the couch for a snuggle. If we had a front or mid-living model, this would still be my choice as it held up well for us while we had it. In the end, we ended up using a large storage basket. Tons of inside space where I stack more of my baskets to keep things organized. The top is hard enough to hold yet another basket for those items I use on a regular basis and with the addition of wheels to the bottom, it moves as we need it to when parked or traveling. (By now, you can see I really have a thing with baskets. They are just sooooo versatile!)

3 – Lights and Plants: I always try and add a little life to Homer wherever I can. I kept a few of my plants from my sticks and bricks house and have them placed through-out our tiny house. Granted, I have killed a few and had to swap them out, but this Christmas cactus I received about 5 years ago, continues to hang tough for me. In addition to the plants, I like to add hanging lights to certain areas of Homer so I can turn them on and off individually. As much as I am a fan of LED lighting, it’s an all or nothing when they are tied to the switches. I use eyehooks to hang them from the corners of my cabinets and simply unhook them and place them behind my throw pillows when we travel. I added a few wooden beads to this light cage, and now I have a boho look and a little more rusticity.

4 – Throw pillows and throws: I always add some throw pillows and lap blankets to my sofas and bedroom. I change out the colors and design, based on season and weather and the colors I am currently decorating with. Sometimes they are soft velvet, sometimes summer weight cotton, sometimes they are green or Christmasy. There are a ton of options to choose from and my suggestion is to buy them a little bigger than your inserts. Makes them easy to put over the inserts and allows for a little “fluffing” when needed.

The last thing I usually add is the decor for my walls. I love goofy sayings and have found an easy way to do this is by adding chalkboard paint to old, wooden boards and then using chalk markers to write in whatever I want. That way, if I get bored with one, I can simply erase it and write another. I am also a huge fan of clocks. No idea why as I’m not obsessed with time, but I do like to know what time it is at a glance. I saw my clock board idea on another website and thought it was sooooo cute. I couldn’t do one as large as theirs, so I just scaled it down.

I also really like natural elements, so on some of my old wooden boards, I simply added cute things by cutting and gluing sticks to them, making words. The sky is the limit on how you want to decorate your walls, I think my takeaway would be to actually do it. Add some of the pretty by expressing who you are on your walls. (Command strips work for some items, but I am a fan of small, wood screws. They seem to just hold items more securely and I don’t end up having to re-hang everything after we travel)

To close out, whatever your style, have fun with it and turn that RV you bought into your own Homer. There’s just nothing like walking in the door after a day in the great outdoors and feeling like you are home.

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